D&D 5E The New D&D Book: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything!

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The new D&D book has been revealed, and it is Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, "a magical mixture of rules options for the world's greatest roleplaying game." The 192-page book is due out November 17th, with standard and alternate covers, and contains more subclasses, spells, character options, group patrons, and rules. Oh, and psionics!

Cover art is by Magali Villeneuve

WHAT WONDERFUL WITCHERY IS THIS?

A magical mixture of rules options for the world's greatest roleplaying game.

The wizard Tasha, whose great works include the spell Tasha’s hideous laughter, has gathered bits and bobs of precious lore during her illustrious career as an adventurer. Her enemies wouldn’t want these treasured secrets scattered across the multiverse, so in defiance, she has collected and codified these tidbits for the enrichment of all.

• EXPANDED SUBCLASSES. Try out subclass options for every Dungeons & Dragons class, including the artificer, which appears in the book.
• MORE CHARACTER OPTIONS. Delve into a collection of new class features and new feats, and customize your character’s origin using straightforward rules for modifying a character’s racial traits.
• INTRODUCING GROUP PATRONS. Whether you're part of the same criminal syndicate or working for an ancient dragon, each group patron option comes with its own perks and types of assignments.
• SPELLS, ARTIFACTS & MAGIC TATTOOS. Discover more spells, as well as magic tattoos, artifacts, and other magic items for your campaign.
• EXPANDED RULES OPTIONS. Try out rules for sidekicks, supernatural environments, natural hazards, and parleying with monsters, and gain guidance on running a session zero.
• A PLETHORA OF PUZZLES. Ready to be dropped into any D&D adventure, puzzles of varied difficulty await your adventurers, complete with traps and guidance on using the puzzles in a campaign.

Full of expanded content for players and Dungeon Masters alike, this book is a great addition to the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Baked in you'll find more rule options for all the character classes in the Player's Handbook, including more subclass options. Thrown in for good measure is the artificer class, a master of magical invention. And this witch's brew wouldn't be complete without a dash of added artifacts, spellbook options, spells for both player characters and monsters, magical tattoos, group patrons, and other tasty goodies.

Here's the alternate cover:

UPDATE! An online event called D&D Celebration from September 18th-20th will be hosted by Elle Osili-Wood, which is "an epic live event with panels, gameplay, & previews of the book!" See the video in the Tweet below!

Gather your party and join the adventure at  D&D Celebration 2020, an online gaming event open to fans all over the world!

Celebrate the release of  Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden  with a weekend of Icewind Dale–themed virtual play sessions and help us create the biggest virtual tabletop roleplaying game event ever! Fans will also get the chance to preview some content from  Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the forthcoming book featuring massive rules options, subclasses, and more for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Watch featured play sessions with D&D luminaries and learn something new with a slate of panels led by the D&D design team and community.


UPDATE! Check out the Nerdarchy site for some previews.

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UPDATE! Other news items around the web about this book:

With D&D's Next Rulebook, Character Creation Will Never Be the Same

Although Dungeons & Dragons’ fifth edition has added as many classes, races, and rules as it has since it first began, for the most part, the way players create characters has stayed the same. You pick a race, that race defines certain things about you, and so on. But the game’s next sourcebook...

io9.gizmodo.com

Tasha's Cauldron of Everything coming in November, brings new ways to personalize your characters

Wizards of the Coast has announced its next D&D book! Entitled Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, this rules expansion follows up Xanathar’s Guide to Everything and will be available on November 17th. Providing both players and DMs with the tools to level up their games, the 192 page tome will be...

gamingtrend.com

Dungeons & Dragons Announces New Book and Fall Event - IGN

The D&D team reveals an online community event in September and a new sourcebook soon to follow.

www.ign.com

D&D's next expansion, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, adds new subclasses and racial customization

Dungeons & Dragons is getting its biggest rules expansion in three years, courtesy of one powerful witch. In November, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything will hit shelves, offering D&D players several new subclasses, some exciting new spells, and a new way to create characters that’s fully...

www.syfy.com

 

[Micah Sweet]

Probably! There's certainly a bit of my cultural upbringing behind how i interpret the word. When i hear 'angel' my brain goes directly to 'white robes, feathery wings, halo, harp' etc. Which is where my personal mental disconnect comes in, because it's hard to envisage an entity like that serving the aforementioned Vleshnak the Unhygenic.



Works for me. Archons, exarchs, heralds, emissaries, shards, exemplars, choristers, servitors - just not 'angels'. I know Planescape/2e's LG celestials were called archons, but it wouldn't be the first time D&D has reinvented a creature. Hell, I remember a time before kobolds were dragony, when they were sort of dog-critters...

It wouldn't be the first time D&D re-purposed the word archon. They used it in 4th ed to describe what were later referred to as elemental myrmidons. As a Planescape fan, I didn't care for the change, any more than making eladrin a type of elf.

 

[Weiley31]

I prefer my Archons 3.0/3.5 edition, but Archon seems like a usable term as well.

 

[ChaosOS]

Now I am wondering, if with this handbook you will can summon undead minions, why not deathless? A special undead monster subtype from Book of Exalted Deeds, healed by positive energy and hurt by negative, controlled by good clerics and turned by evils.

How will be the future new PC races after this book? I hope also with optional list of racial traits for more flexibility and to avoid typecasted with the classes.

Not sure if you're aware, but Deathless are probably better known for their place in the Eberron Campaign setting as the rulers of the elves.

 

[Rabulias]

Wait, don’t tell me... they’re all Wizard spells, right?

Spoiler

Yes, they are. Judging from the page-through on YouTube, it looks like they are blade of disaster (along with a living blade of disaster creature over in the monster appendix), create magen (along with some magen entries in the monster appendix), and frost fingers.

 

[Haldrik]

What about Archons?

"Archon" is neutral but connotes an archangel, or an archfiend, even an archfey. It seems to signify the legendary tier levels 17 to 20.

I was wondering about "potentate". Then these potentates might be a Good angel, or Evil fiend. The Neutral counterparts are simply called potentates.

The Evil potentates, the fiends, subdivide further into Lawful Evil devil, Neutral Evil aberrant (!), or Chatotic Evil demons.

Potentates are personifications of the alignment system.

 

[Undrave]

Works for me. Archons, exarchs, heralds, emissaries, shards, exemplars, choristers, servitors - just not 'angels'. I know Planescape/2e's LG celestials were called archons, but it wouldn't be the first time D&D has reinvented a creature. Hell, I remember a time before kobolds were dragony, when they were sort of dog-critters...

Heralds or Emissaries could be a good generic name as well. With Angels being a type of them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

"Archon" is neutral but connotes an archangel, or an archfiend, even an archfey. It seems to signify the legendary tier levels 17 to 20.

I was wondering about "potentate". Then these potentates might be a Good angel, or Evil fiend. The Neutral counterparts are simply called potentates.

The Evil potentates, the fiends, subdivide further into Lawful Evil devil, Neutral Evil aberrant (!), or Chatotic Evil demons.

Potentates are personifications of the alignment system.

Archon is not a neutral term; it has specific meanings in various editions of D&D. How creatures are referred to in the history of the game matters, if for no other reason than to alleviate confusion. If we were going to have an angel-like servitor for evil deities (and aren't just going to say angel), then we need to find a new term, and probably a new statblock.

 

[ChaosOS]

Herald is a good term but I'm personally fine with angels of all stripes in my games.

 

[Weiley31]

Ooooh ooh what is the Blade of Disaster wizard spell?

 

[Parmandur]

Ooooh ooh what is the Blade of Disaster wizard spell?

It appears to be an old AD&D spell, that was in the Infinity Engine games. Like a super powerful Spiritual Weapon, sort of?

 

[Haldrik]

Some angels and their equivalent, dont serve anyone.

The significance of angels and fiends is to personify the ethical alignments.

So I would like a name that reflects this.

Maybe call them the "aligners".

If there is an astral immortal that employs them, it is because of the ethical views of that immortal.

 

[cbwjm]

I just use the 4e lore for angels and have each god served by angels that reflect their portfolio. The more powerful archangels directly reflect a specific part of their god's portfolio with powers to reflect that.

 

[Gradine]

Y'all why did you resurrect the Star Wars talk when this is the Tasha's thread?

Because we talk about Tasha's in the Frostmaiden thread. Come on, keep up

 

[Dausuul]

Angels as "divine servitors, alignment unspecified" make much more sense in the World Axis cosmology of 4E. An angel is an agent of divine order. Even if it's a dark angel serving an evil god, it's still a warrior of the gods, battling primordial chaos.

In the Great Wheel cosmology, there is no great force opposing the gods, the way there is in the World Axis. All the major cosmic conflicts - Law vs. Chaos, Good vs. Evil - have gods on each side. So giving angelic servitors to Chaotic Evil gods who live in the Abyss alongside demons seems extremely weird.

(Off topic - even more off topic - it's a damn shame the World Axis died with 4E. It was such an elegant, evocative cosmology. Not that I can't still use it in my own campaigns, of course, but every time I see more 5E material published that builds on the muddy mess of the Great Wheel, I sigh a little.)

 

[ChaosOS]

At least we have Exandria for World Axis fans.

 

[Marandahir]

At least we have Exandria for World Axis fans.

4e Core Pantheon (+Pathfinder interloper) does not a World Axis/Nerath/Nentir Vale/PoLand setting make…

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

It appears to be an old AD&D spell, that was in the Infinity Engine games. Like a super powerful Spiritual Weapon, sort of?

Was it this spell?

Dimensional Blade ​

This spell makes a single weapon incredibly sharp by reducing one of its physical dimensions to an infinitesimal measurement. The dimensional blade can slash through matter with as much effort as it takes to wave a stick through the air. Even stone and iron can be carved to pieces with ease. The spell can be cast on almost any hand-held slashing (type S) weapon, as well as a few thrown weapons of this type, such as the chakram, shuriken, or a hand axe.​

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Against creatures, the dimensional blade ignores any portion of Armor Class derived from armor itself; only magical and Dexterity adjustments affect the opponent's AC. For example, a warrior in chain mail +2 with a Dexterity of 17 is normally AC 0, but against the dimensional blade he only applies the 3-point adjustment for Dexterity and the 2-point magical adjustment, for a total AC of 5. Creatures wearing purely magical armor (such as bracers of defense) may keep the full magical adjustment. Monsters with thick or toughened hides, such as dragons, may lose part of the Armor Class at the DM's discretion. The weapon gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls in any event, but the wielder ignores any Strength-based combat adjustments-muscle power doesn't help the blade at all.​

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The dimensional blade is also quite effective against inanimate objects. Any object with a diameter or thickness smaller than the blades length must make a saving throw vs. disintegration when struck, or be cleanly severed in twain. Larger objects can be sawed through or sliced away at the rate of about 5 cubic feet per round. It's dangerous to attempt to disarm a dimensional blade; the weapon used must make an item saving throw vs. disintegration or be destroyed.​

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Finally, the blade is also effective against phased or ethereal creatures since part of its existence is forced into the Ethereal Plane. If the wielder has some way to detect creatures concealed in this way, the blade can strike and affect them normally, but without the power to negate Armor Class or other combat bonuses.​

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The wizard must touch the weapon to be affected by the spell, but afterward anyone may wield it. The material component for this spell is a razor-thin shard of glass.​

 

[Undrave]

It appears to be an old AD&D spell, that was in the Infinity Engine games. Like a super powerful Spiritual Weapon, sort of?

So just Wizards getting the better version or other people's stuff?

Because we talk about Tasha's in the Frostmaiden thread. Come on, keep up

"Your Tauntaun won't make it past page 2 in that thread!"

 

[Undrave]

(Off topic - even more off topic - it's a damn shame the World Axis died with 4E. It was such an elegant, evocative cosmology. Not that I can't still use it in my own campaigns, of course, but every time I see more 5E material published that builds on the muddy mess of the Great Wheel, I sigh a little.)

You're not the only one! There's a few of us.

 

[Parmandur]

So just Wizards getting the better version or other people's stuff?



"Your Tauntaun won't make it past page 2 in that thread!"

I mean, it seems to be a Level 9 Spell, so it's not better on the same plane per se.